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FAQ
About MusicBee Who makes MusicBee? MusicBee is authored by one person, , who does this for free in his spare time. He is very active on the forum. At the time of this writing, about 1/4 of all forum posts are Steven's. He responds to appropriately formatted bug reports as quickly as possible, but as MusicBee gains more users, he may not be able to address every one. How can I support MusicBee? *You can to support website expenses. (This link is also available from the official MusicBee website.) *You can develop plugins, skins, or Theater Modes. *You can help with translation. *You can write documentation on this wiki. *You can answer questions from other users on . Are there any limitations on using MusicBee? MusicBee is freeware for personal use. Just about anything is fair game as long as you're not selling it. Is MusicBee open source? No. There has been lengthy debate on this topic among users, but Steven is firm that he will consider making MusicBee open source only when he's no longer developing it. Here are the debates and Steven's own words on the forum: * longest topic * another smaller topic Installation & Setup What are the system requirements for MusicBee? *Windows XP SP2+, Vista, 7, 8/8.1, or 10 (32 or 64 bit versions) *.NET 4.0 or higher *At least 512 MB of physical RAM *At least 50 MB of available space on your hard drive *Soundcard *DirectX 8.1 or above Will MusicBee be ported to Mac/Linux/other OS? Steven has not definitively ruled it out, but it seems unlikely. Please don't make posts on the forum asking for it; there are many and they can be easily found by searching. For example, is a great post about the obstacles to creating a Linux version. Mac users may be interested in these posts: * * Linux users may be interested in these posts: * * How do I play AAC files in MusicBee? Due to licensing restrictions no AAC decoder can be distributed with MusicBee. Tracks are played in MusicBee using the BASS audio library, which has an add-on to play AAC tracks. You can download the add-on for your own personal use: *download *unzip and copy bass_aac.dll to the folder MusicBee is installed (e.g. \Program Files\MusicBee) *restart MusicBee How do I rip/convert to MP3 or AAC files with MusicBee? Due to licensing restrictions no MP3 or AAC encoder can be distributed with MusicBee. However, you can install the following for personal use: ;MP3 *download LAME, available . *copy lame.exe to the Codec sub-folder where MusicBee is installed (e.g. \Program Files\MusicBee\Codec\) *activate in MusicBee - go to Preferences > File Converters and tick MP3 *available command-line options can be found here ;AAC/MPEG *download Nero AAC, available *copy neroAacEnc.exe to the Codec sub-folder where MusicBee is installed (e.g. \Program Files\MusicBee\Codec\) *activate in MusicBee - go to Preferences > File Converters and tick AAC Files and Organization Why can't I find some tracks in my library? *They may be in your Inbox. *Be sure you don't have any Filters applied that would hide them from view. *Check that you didn't exclude that file type when MusicBee scanned the files. See Scan Folders for New Files. *Check that the files exceeded the minimum file size setting in Library Preferences. *Check that they have not been marked as duplicates. Why isn't MusicBee importing new files? * MusicBee will automatically import new files only if they are in a Monitored Folder. * It's possible that they are already imported, but hidden (see previous entry). Did MusicBee move my files? By default, MusicBee does not move files on your harddrive. If files are disappearing from their original location after being scanned by MusicBee, check Library Preferences to see if either "auto-organize music library files" or "automatically sweep and organize new files" has been turned on. How do I move my files without breaking the links in MusicBee? The best way to move your files is to use the Send To > Folder (Move) command from MusicBee's Library Context Menu. You can simply move them, or you can enter an organization template at the same time. If you've already moved your files, the easiest thing to do is delete the broken links and rescan. If you're concerned about retaining info like play counts and last played date, the Remap Music Folders command can help MusicBee find them again. Why are tracks from the same album shown separately in my library? Unless you've made changes to your Sorting & Grouping Preferences, this is probably the result of having inconsistent Album or Album Artist tags. Albums with multiple artists or many featured artists especially tend to have this problem. First make sure that you're sorting (and grouping, in Album Covers View) by Album and/or Album Artist, not Artist. If that doesn't help, you can fix your tags manually by selecting all tracks from the album, and using the Tag Editor to apply Album and Album Artist values to all of them. Or you can use one of MusicBee's Auto-Tagging options to retrieve standardized tags for the album from a database like MusicBrainz. What is the Inbox? The Inbox node is unique to MusicBee. It is a separate section of your library designed to hold newly added files until they're "ready" for your library, whatever that may mean to you. The most common use of the inbox is probably to make sure files are tagged to your liking before adding them to the main library. Why can't I open more than 15 files from Windows Explorer? This is a limitation in Windows. However, Microsoft offers a . Devices Can I sync my iPod / iPhone / iPad with MusicBee? Short answer: not directly. Due to Apple's proprietary software, most iPods and iPhones are not directly supported by MusicBee. For iPhone/iPod Touch, only iOS 3.11 or below is supported. Steven, the developer, says: "Even for the same iPod model, particular (longer) serial numbers don't work with MusicBee. Also I think if the iPod has been formatted with iTunes 11 (and maybe the last of the 10 series) it causes problems with MB." Some forum members have successfully synced iPod Classics. Please consult the forum for help. However, You can use the iPod & iPhone Driver plugin to sync your iPhone/iPod. You can also do it by exporting your library or one or more playlists from MusicBee and importing it into iTunes. The music files themselves do not need to be copied. See How to Sync MB library/playlists to iPod/iPhone Using iTunes. Is there a mobile version of MusicBee? No, although there is a MusicBee Remote for Android. In theory any player should be compatible enough to play tracks synced by MusicBee (provided they support the format synced). MusicBee users have particularly reported being pleased with these players: * * * * Disclaimer: these are strictly personal recommendations. None of these apps are associated with MusicBee, the developer, or its users in any formal way. Sometimes you can sync play counts from an MTP device, but there's no guarantee. It may depend on the model of phone, the version of Android, and/or the player used. However, many Android music players can use helper apps like to send play counts to last.fm, and with the Last.fm Plugin, MusicBee can import those play counts. Other Can I search using file name and location in addition to tags? Yes! Click on the magnifying glass icon in the search box and tick +Filename. This will include the filename and full folder path. Why are tracks not scrobbling/scrobbling multiple times to last.fm? The problem will be on last.fm's end. See this post from Steven: Why is a track not in the Playing Tracks list being played? This can happen when "playback follows cursor" is selected in Now Playing Preferences. That setting causes whatever track is selected in the main panel to be played after the currently playing track finishes. Category:MusicBee